NEW YORK -- For a few innings, it looked like the Yankees could breathe a sigh of relief when it came to watching right-hander Luis Gil.

After getting roughed up in his previous two starts, Gil was having his way with the Reds in the early going on Tuesday night at Yankee Stadium. But he lost his confidence by the fourth inning as New York was edged by Cincinnati, 5-4.

Before his start against the Orioles on June 20, Gil was pegged by baseball experts as a possible Rookie of the Year and Cy Young Award candidate in the American League. He had a 2.03 ERA and had already won nine games.

It has been rough ever since. Going back to his start against Baltimore, Gil has allowed 16 runs in 9 2/3 innings (14.90 ERA) in his last three starts and has seen his ERA jump to 3.41. He had allowed seven runs in 55 1/3 innings over his previous nine starts (1.14 ERA).

Manager Aaron Boone doesn't think Gil has an issue with fatigue. Whatever is wrong, Gil doesn’t know how to fix the problem on the fly during a game. He has watched video of his last three starts, and he feels he has mechanical issues.

“Overall, things mechanically, you sink into your body to a good point where you feel comfortable,” Gil said through interpreter Marlon Abreu. “Sometimes, you hit bumps when you are competing at this level. At the same time, I feel assured of myself that by working hard, I’ll be able to get out of it and not let things keep happening.”

At first, it looked like Gil was going to have his first quality start since June 4, when he pitched six shutout innings against the Twins. In the first three innings against Cincinnati, Gil retired nine of the first 10 batters he faced and struck out three batters. In fact, he reached the 100-strikeout plateau by striking out Elly De La Cruz in the first inning.

It went downhill by the fourth inning. De La Cruz led off with a triple and then scored on a groundout by Jeimer Candelario. An inning later, after Gil hit Stuart Fairchild with a pitch, Will Benson hit a two-run homer over the center-field wall to give the Reds a three-run lead. Gil then hit Jonathan India before leaving the game in favor of left-hander Caleb Ferguson, who allowed a two-run homer to De La Cruz to make it a five-run game.

“Later in the fourth, I came in, maybe the delivery wasn’t quite as I wanted,” Gil said. “I can’t pinpoint exactly. I wasn’t able to execute my pitches in the fourth and fifth [innings].”

Said Boone: “He lost his command a little bit there. He had a stretch where getting in the strike zone was difficult for him. So obviously, going through that fourth and fifth was a struggle. But yeah, tough outing.

“Overall, I thought the profile was better tonight, but there is still work to do. … It’s a tough game. He is a very young man at this. Again, this is all valuable experience. You want to get it turned around quicker. But it’s a work in progress. You have to keep working alongside him to help him get better.”

The Yankees tried to make a comeback by scoring three runs in the bottom of the sixth inning off Reds right-hander Graham Ashcraft. Ben Rice highlighted the scoring with a two-run double off reliever Nick Martinez. Aaron Judge then made it a one-run game with a solo shot -- his MLB-best 32nd home run of 2024 -- off left-hander Sam Moll.

But New York fell short and has lost 11 out of its last 15 games. In the meantime, Gil has to try to be consistent like he did before the slump that started against the Orioles.

“It’s tough. It’s something that I’ve been working extremely hard on … and finding a way to execute all of my pitches,” he said.